Teaching Jobs Saved By Plan

In an attempt to avoid firing tenured faculty members while coping
with severe budget cuts, the Michigan State University College of
Education is using a variety of innovative plans that will keep some
tenured teachers on the payroll and give others time and money to find
new jobs.

The plan is being introduced at a time when sharp drops in
enrollment and financial retrenchment are forcing education-school
administrators across the country to come to terms with the sensitive
issue of removing tenured professors.

Forced to close or cut eight programs in response to the university
trustees' order to shave 14 percent from this year's budget, the
college has participated in a university-wide plan consisting of early
retirements, "buy-outs," and appointments shorter than the usual full
year.

Among the specific options offered to the 18 tenured teachers slated
for dismissal at Michigan State:

Early retirement has been made possible by the removal of age and
years-of-service requirements.

A tenured professor may retire immediately with two full years of
pay plus one year's worth of benefits.

Or the professor may agree to resign after the 1981-82 school year
and receive one and a half years' salary as separation pay.

A tenured teacher may also avoid dismissal by voluntarily changing
his 12-month appointment to a 10-month contract--with a proportionate
cut in salary.

Judith E. Lanier, dean of the college of education, says that so
far, 10 tenured faculty members have accepted one form or another of
the ''buy-out" plans.

Five others kept their jobs by transferring into different
departments within the university.

Ms. Lanier asserts that the program is working well. "Morale is
pretty good; the members of the faculty are approaching this crisis in
good faith," she says. "I am impressed with their attitude."

One participant in the program is Kent L. Gustafson, formerly a
tenured professor at Michigan State. Although he was not in a
department marked for termination under the budget cuts, Mr. Gustafson
resigned his position this summer under the two-year salary buy-out
plan and is now teaching at the University of Georgia.

"The buy-out system is equitable," says Mr. Gustafson, "but from a
purely financial point of view, it's not a heck of a lot of money."

The average annual salary for a full professor at Michigan State is
$30,639.

Web Only

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.